Issue 163
Over the past twelve weeks we have had a look at sayings which are in common usage and challenged some of their underlying assumptions. I’ve not argued that these sayings are inaccurate or untrue but that they often are incomplete and can be misleading. It seems to me that there is something distinctively Christian about seeing things this way. The Christian life, like Jesus Himself, isfull of surprising escapes and twists in pathways which lead people out of mental, intellectual and spiritual traps. These surprises are signposted by words such as ‘but’, ‘however’ or ‘nevertheless’.
The prodigal son comes home expecting rejection, but while he was a long way off his father saw him. Satan wanted to sift Simon, but Jesus prayed for him. A storm on the lake seemed as terminal as the shortage of wine at a wedding, but Jesus transformed these workplace situations with the same power that proved that dying is not the last act in our drama.
In this world there are troubles, but Jesus has overcome the world and, if you listen carefully, those who are going to be blessed are not in the categories that you would normally expect.
To walk with Jesus is to inhabit a world where tax collectors pay their debts and debtors are forgiven, the tables of money-changers are overturned but the hungry are fed from ludicrously small resources. It is a world of fighting opposition, combined with unwavering integrity, where what seems to be lost turns out to be found and that which was pre-eminent seems to go to the back of the queue.
Jesus invited his followers to be peaceful revolutionaries, counter-culture, counter-convention, and join a rather risky-looking adventure. Yet he offered peace, rest and security. Worry is to be avoided, not by burying your head in the sand but by looking up to his Father and yours. This is how he lived and worked.
The question is: do you want this Man to come to work with you? I know I want to know him and his working methods more and more. As we take a break for a few weeks, can I encourage you to question the received wisdom in your work as he does, and challenge the culture as he would. Not to destroy it, but to rescue it and take it on the same adventurous journey that he always invites people to travel. You have heard it said – but Jesus is not like anyone we have ever heard before; this is the point of WORKTALKweekly.
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Work well
Geoff Shattock
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